Re: Balcones: Next stop, world domination?

that's some pretty copper. Since Chip has figured out how to make good american whiskey out of 100% copper pot stills, perhaps he should pay Woodford Reserve and Chris Morrison a visit and show them how its done.

Re: Balcones: Next stop, world domination?

Originally Posted by cowdery

These criticisms, if that's what they are, should be directed at the award promoters, not at Balcones. I have no doubt that in every case they have followed the competition's rules in terms of what they've submitted. You'll notice that I rarely mention awards in my writings, except to say how little I think of them. At the same time, I have had the experience of criticizing awards until I win one, then I think they're great. It's a natural and largely attractive human instinct to pat each other on the back, so let's lighten up a bit.

I'm also not sure why it's automatically suspect or a negative if people are getting awards for products that are not, or not yet, available at retail. Again, if you think there should be a competition that only judges stuff that's on the retail shelves, start one. You don't get to tell other people how to run their contests.

I have no problem with entering a product that isn't available to the public, and I would never assume they are bending the rules in any way. What I do have a problem with is the way the awards are being presented to the public. They need to be clear the awards are for what they are capable of, and not awards for their retail products. It is more of a whiskey making award. Its like an auto or bike builder entering a one-off product in a show. They are winning an award for what they are capable of, not what they sell to the public. I still find it informative, as some of the details might trickle down into production.

Just be clear the awards are for a showcase of your abilities, not products available at retail.

And to whoever questioned whether the whiskeys in question were "honey" barrels, that is just absurd. It is just as likely that Chip closed his eyes, and randomly selected the barrel from his inventory. To be fair, only having one barrel of each does limit the randomness, but lets not jump to conclusions.

"Unless it survived a tornado, weathered a snow storm in Scotland, and then spent a year on boat before returning home, I'm not really interested."

Re: Balcones: Next stop, world domination?

Indeed the awards are a testament to our capabilities. The only reason these aren't regular expressions is because we don't have the capacity to take away from our core portfolio at this time. Now, think about all the cool stuff we're gonna do when we have the new distillery...

To the analogy that someone made earlier likening us to making a movie and not releasing it... I'd say these experimental whiskies are more of a teaser-trailer for what we will do The full show has yet to be made!